Filipino-American guitarist/composer Karl Evangelista ranks among a new wave of creative musicians grounded in jazz, 20th century experimentalism, and popular song, exploring the place of multiculturalism and ethnic co-existence in an increasingly post-cultural, trans-idiomatic cultural space. Evangelista’s music has been called “essential current-and-future listening,” a “near-seamless blend of modern jazz, contemporary structuralist composition, indie rock, and blues rock” (Tiny Mix Tapes). This complex, powerful aesthetic fosters an “otherworldly experience” that is “completely original” (Eugene Weekly).
NEWS
5/22/13 Upcoming: Song & Dance Trio (Evangelista/Jordan Glenn/Cory Wright) Returns, Grex East Coast Tour, New Grex Album
4/23/13 Taglish is now posted in the audio/video section!
TAGLISH: New Album from Karl Evangelista/Grex Taglish is a new work from Bay Area guitarist/composer Karl Evangelista and art rock outfit Grex--an album of original Filipino-American music that is staggering in scope and strangeness.
Inspired by Evangelista's family experiences, Taglish is an exploration of the multifaceted nature of both contemporary music and 21st century immigrant culture. The project synthesizes jazz, American song, 20th century experimentalism, and Filipino folk melody into a sound that is at once universal and starkly personal. Centered around Evangelista's duo Grex and featuring trailblazing saxophonist/Asian Improv aRts cofounder Francis Wong, renowned electric bassist/multi-instrumentalist John-Carlos Perea, and Bay Area drumming dynamo Jordan Glenn, Taglish is a genuinely multicultural, trans-idiomatic work.
Taglish is available for order HERE
(frontpage art by Katerina Evangelista)